Constitutional Law Commons^™

Speech Regulation By Algorithm, Enrique Armijo

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The rapid convergence of speech and technology on social media platforms means it is likely the case that, either now or soon, more expressive activity will be regulated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) than by any legislature, regulator, or other government entity. Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly told Congress and other audiences that AI is the key to resolving Facebook's content moderation challenges, envisioning a moderation regime where algorithms detect and take down speech infringing Facebook's Community Standards ex ante, that is, prior to its public posting and before it reaches other users. According to Zuckerberg, this would eventually replace its initial …

Ridden With Controversy: Applying The Public Forum Doctrine To Public Transit Advertising, Remy T. B. Oliver

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note tackles the application of the First Amendment to public transit advertising. Under the current judicial framework, the First Amendment is filtered through the "public forum doctrine" when discussing the rights of citizens to utilize government property for expressive purposes. The Note will argue that public transit advertising constitutes a "designated public forum" in most (if not all) cases. That characterization would force any content-based restrictions to be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. The natural result is a significant expansion of access to public transit advertising by interested parties. If the U.S. Supreme Court were to …

Docket Selection And Judicial Responsiveness: The Use Of Ai In The Colombian Constitutional Court, Pablo Rueda Saiz

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article addresses some of the limitations of AI as a tool to preselect a long or shortlist of cases for a court at the apex of the judicial system to review. It focuses on the Colombian Constitutional Court, as an example of a court at the apex of the judicial system that has been historically responsive to claims for fundamental rights. Docket selection is an example of a classification problem using supervised learning, in which a machine groups data according to preestablished characteristics.

This Article draws from two different bodies of literature to analyze the consequences of using AI …

Ballots In An Unfamiliar Language And Other Things That Make No Sense: Interpreting How The Voting Rights Act Undermines Constitutional Rights For Voters With Limited English Proficiency, Abigail Hylton

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note will argue that the current federal scheme for determining the baseline resources that a state must provide to voters with limited English proficiency is unconstitutional. Specifically, the Voting Rights Act neglects to require adequate translation and interpretation services for many voters with limited English proficiency. Such failure to adequately support this group of citizens throughout the election process effectively excludes them from the democratic process and deprives them of their constitutional right to vote. Whether this group of voters has access to translated materials currently hinges on the language they speak, their nationality, and their geographic location; the …

Geofence Warrants: Geolocating The Fourth Amendment, A. Reed Mcleod

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note begins by focusing on the technology and procedure of geofence warrants in Part I. Because an understanding of both the technology and procedure is ultimately required to make any headway in later legal analysis, this step is necessary. The heart of the legal analysis is undertaken in Parts II and III.

In Part II, this Note argues that law enforcement requests for location data require a warrant: either because of the expectation of privacy in location data proposed by cases such as Carpenter v. United States or because some courts have found that Carpenter's holding must mean …

The Complexities Of Conscience: Reconciling Death Penalty L Aw With Capital Jurors’ Concerns, Meredith Martin Rountree, Mary R. Rose

Buffalo Law Review

Jurors exercise unique legal power when they are asked to decide whether to sentence someone to death. The Supreme Court emphasizes the central role of the jury’s moral judgment in making this sentencing decision, noting that it is the jurors who are best able to “express the conscience of the community on the ultimate question of life or death.” Manylower courts nevertheless narrow the range of admissible evidence at the mitigation phase of a capital trial, insisting on a standard of legal relevance that interferes with the jury’s ability to exercise the very moral judgment the Supreme Court has deemed …

Textual Gerrymandering: The Eclipse Of Republican Government In An Era Of Statutory Populism, William N. Eskridge, Victoria Frances Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We have entered the era dominated by a dogmatic textualism—albeit one that is fracturing, as illustrated by the three warring original public meaning opinions in the blockbuster sexual orientation case, Bostock v. Clayton County. This Article provides conceptual tools that allow lawyers and students to understand the deep analytical problems faced and created by the new textualism advanced by Justice Scalia and his heirs. The key is to think about choice of text—why one piece of text rather than another—and choice of context—what materials are relevant to confirm or clarify textual meaning. Professors Eskridge and Nourse apply these concepts …

You Are Not A Commodity: A More Efficient Approach To Commercial Privacy Rights, Benjamin T. Pardue

Washington Law Review

United States common law provides four torts for privacy invasion: (1) disclosure of private facts, (2) intrusion upon seclusion, (3) placement of a person in a false light, and (4) appropriation of name or likeness. Appropriation of name or likeness occurs when a defendant commandeers the plaintiff’s recognizability, typically for a commercial benefit. Most states allow plaintiffs who establish liability to recover defendants’ profits as damages from the misappropriation under an “unjust enrichment” theory. By contrast, this Comment argues that such an award provides a windfall to plaintiffs and contributes to suboptimal social outcomes. These include overcompensating plaintiffs and incentivizing …

The Public Meaning Thesis: An Originalist Theory Of Constitutional Meaning, Lawrence B. Solum

Faculty Scholarship

Public Meaning Originalism is the predominant form of constitutional originalism. What makes Public Meaning Originalism distinctive is the Public Meaning Thesis—the claim that the best understanding of constitutional meaning focuses on the meaning communicated by the constitutional text to the public at the time each constitutional provision was framed and ratified. This Article provides a precise formulation of the Public Meaning Thesis, supplies reasons for affirming the thesis, and answers objections. The constitutional record strongly supports the claim that the constitutional text was intended to communicate to the public. The Constitution begins with “We the People” and the ratification process …

Media Paratext And Constitutional Interpretation, Benjamin J. Priester

Faculty Articles

In the fields of media studies and fan studies, the concept of paratext is an analytical paradigm for understanding how audiences consume and interpret media texts, such as a novel or movie. Amid today's media-rich society, it is all but impossible to encounter a media text in isolation. Rather, we also invariably interact with a wide variety of associated paratexts, from official materials like trailers or marketing to unofficial materials like reviews or fan reactions, which play a role in shaping our interpretation of the core media text. This concept of media paratext provides a compelling analogy for constitutional interpretation. …

High Time For A Change: How The Relationship Between Signatory Countries And The United Nations Conventions Governing Narcotic Drugs Must Adapt To Foster A Global Shift In Cannabis Law, Alexander Clementi

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Since the early 1970’s, the inclusion of cannabis and its byproducts in the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs has mandated a strict prohibition on cultivation and use of the substance, which has led to a largely global practice of criminalization and imprisonment of anyone found to be in its possession. Yet recently, mostly in response to growing public health concerns, countries like Uruguay, Portugal, The Netherlands, Canada, and the United States have enacted laws which seek to decriminalize or even legalize cannabis use and possession. Yet, cannabis remains classified as a Schedule IV narcotic under the Single Convention, …

Digital Privacy Rights And Cloud Act Agreements, Tim Cochrane

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) will soon bring into force a new international law enforcement data sharing ‘CLOUD Act agreement’ (US-UK Agreement), the first of its kind under the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act 2018 (CLOUD Act). These agreements enable law enforcement in one state to directly request data from service providers based in the other state. They respond to long-standing concerns with the main mechanism for obtaining overseas data, mutual legal assistance (MLA). The US and UK claim the US-UK Agreement will significantly speed up data access relative to MLA while “respecting privacy and …

The Roberts Court, State Courts, And State Constitutions: Judicial Role Shopping, Ariel L. Bendor, Joshua Segev

Journal of Law and Policy

In this Article we reveal a dual dilemma, both material and institutional, that the Supreme Court in its current composition faces when reviewing liberal state court decisions based on the state constitution. The Article further describes substantive and procedural tactics that the Court adopts to address this dilemma, and illustrates the arguments by analyzing a number of recent Supreme Court decisions. The two dilemmas, the combination of which serve as a “power multiplier,” of sorts, have arisen following the last three appointments to the Supreme Court, which resulted in a solid majority of conservative Justices nominated by Republican presidents. One …

The Historical Diagnosis Criterion Should Not Apply: Reasonable Accommodations In Standardized Testing For Individuals With A Later Diagnosis Of Adhd, Denise Elliot

Journal of Law and Policy

There is a growing number of adults being diagnosed with ADHD who were not diagnosed in childhood, misdiagnosed, or primarily exhibited symptoms in adulthood. Notably, most of the later diagnoses of ADHD in adults are individuals pursuing some level of higher education. Some of the reasons posited for this increase in ADHD diagnoses in higher education may be attributed to increased workloads, decreased structural and community supports, misdiagnosis in childhood, masking, and racial and socioeconomic factors that overlook subpopulations like children of color, female-presenting, and gender-nonbinary children with ADHD. Unfortunately, testing agencies that administer college entrance exams, graduate school entrance …

How Artificial Intelligence Machines Can Legally Become Inventors: An Examination Of And Solution To The Decision On Dabus, Justyn Millamena

Journal of Law and Policy

With proliferation of Artificial Intelligence research and development, it is foreseeable that these machines will invent many new patentable technologies. However, the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently deemed a patent application incomplete for listing an AI machine as the inventor. If the USPTO’s decision is not corrected, the patent system will be in danger because many fraudulent patent applications that list incorrect inventors will be filed. This would drastically change existing and settled inventorship jurisprudence and might endanger the patent protection over such patents. This Note argues that the USPTO’s reasons for not allowing the Artificial Intelligence machine …

Through A Glass, Darkly: Systemic Racism, Affirmative Action, And Disproportionate Minority Contact, Robin Walker Sterling

Michigan Law Review

This Article is the first to describe how systemic racism persists in a society that openly denounces racism and racist behaviors, using affirmative action and disproportionate minority contact as contrasting examples. Affirmative action and disproportionate minority contact are two sides of the same coin. Far from being distinct, these two social institutions function as two sides of the same ideology, sharing a common historical nucleus rooted in the mythologies that sustained chattel slavery in the United States. The effects of these narratives continue to operate in race-related jurisprudence and in the criminal legal system, sending normative messages about race and …

Plausible Retaliation: Using Modern Pleading Standards As A Blueprint For First Amendment Retaliation Claims, Amy L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the Supreme Court’s evolving doctrine governing First Amendment retaliatory arrest claims, focusing on the Court’s decision in Nieves v. Bartlett and its imposition of a lack-of-probable-cause requirement as a threshold element. Tracing the doctrinal development from Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle through Hartman v. Moore, Reichle v. Howards, Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, and Nieves, the Article argues that the Court improperly imported retaliatory prosecution logic into the arrest context without adequately accounting for modern pleading standards under Twombly and Iqbal. The Article contends that requiring …

The Gig Economy’S Short Reach: An Analysis Of The Scope Of The Federal Arbitration Act’S “Transportation Worker” Exemption, Emina Sadic Herzberger

Georgia Law Review

The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) governs arbitration agreements in the United States. Section 1 of the FAA provides an exemption from arbitration for “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” In a 2001 decision, Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the residual phrase “any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” includes transportation workers. But, such language is ambiguous, and the Supreme Court did not expound upon what it means to be a transportation worker or to be engaged …

Beyond The Horizons Of The Harvard Forewords, Or Bassok

Cleveland State Law Review

American constitutional thought is controlled by certain paradigms that limit the ability to think beyond them. A careful reading of the Harvard Law Review Forewords—the “tribal campfire” of American constitutional thinkers—is one way to detect these paradigms. Based on reading these Forewords since their inception in 1951 and until 2019, I track how the concept of judicial legitimacy has been understood over the years. My analysis shows that in recent decades an understanding of judicial legitimacy in terms of public support has risen to the status of a controlling paradigm. While this understanding is currently considered commonsensical, it stands in …

Maybe Deficits Do Matter After All, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Federalism And The Limits Of Subnational Political Heterogeneity, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

With an epidemic of democratic backsliding now afflicting many of the world’s democracies, including the United States, some scholars have suggested that federalism might serve as a useful defense for liberal democracy by impeding the ability of an authoritarian central government to stamp it out at the subnational level. In this Essay, I dispute that contention. An examination of both federal theory on one hand and the behavior and tactics of central control employed by ancient and early modern empires on the other leads to the conclusion that the protective value of federalism against the effects of national authoritarianism is …

Pemenuhan Hak Konstitusional Untuk Warga Negara Indonesia Melalui Program Perhutanan Sosial, Yusuf Adiwinata Damanhuri

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

Social Forestry as a forest management system based on the independence and participation of local communities, ensuring the participation of the community's direct role in forest development can provide maximum benefits to local communities and indigenous peoples. Indonesia, as one of the countries that began to initiate social forestry programe, through the ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia, has provided legal certainty for the local community and indigenous people to obtain forest access as requested. Various types of social forestry schemes, namely Village Forests, Customary Forests, Community Plantation Forests, Community Forests, Community Forests, and Forestry Partnerships …

Tinjauan Yuridis Perbuatan Melawan Hukum Terhadap Cacat Badan Di Indonesia, Yulianto Manurung

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

One of the categories of acts against the law stipulated in Article 1365 to 1380 of the Civil Code is an unlawful act that causes bodily defects as stipulated in Article 1371 of the Civil Code What often causes problems in practice is the calculation of the amount of material compensation that must be given to victims who have disabilities as a result of unlawful acts because the Civil Code does not provide clear and complete benchmarks regarding this matter. Arrangements regarding compensation to victims of acts against the law especially those that cause bodily disabilities for the victim have …

Indikasi Predatory Pricing Pada Praktik Perang Harga Antara Pelaku Usaha Financial Technology (Fintech) Ditinjau Berdasarkan Hukum Persaingan Usaha Di Indonesia, Yohanna Ameilya Panjaitan

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

The rapid development of the digital world has opened wider networks for the formation of the global economy, which has also led to the emergence of various business transactions involving many financial technology-based financial companies (Fintech), which provide services similar to banking functions. Fintech is expected to drive the industrial revolution in the form of online digital technology, which is based on new technology that will change the entire production and management chain in each branch of industry. The Fintech company is growing rapidly and significantly in Indonesia, where the Fintech sub-sector is seen to flourish, namely lending and e-wallet …

Tinjauan Yuridis Peran Pt Kliring Penjaminan Efek Indonesia Sebagai Central Counter Party Untuk Transaksi Derivatif Suku Bunga Dan Nilai Tukar Over The Counter, Yofi Satriya Wijaya

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

The role of the Central Counter Party (CCP) in financial transactions, especially in the derivatives market, is the concern and commitment of G20 member countries including Indonesia to be implemented due to the global crisis in 2008-2010. Derivatives have an important role as an alternative investment and funding as well as hedging for investors against the risk of changes in the price of financial assets that can’t be predicted so that puts investors in a loss position. However, derivatives can also have a negative impact if the implementation is done improperly so that it has an impact on financial stability …

Penanganan Dan Penyelesaian Unclaimed Assets Di Pasar Modal Indonesia, Yanu Suwandika Menoadji

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

In other countries, the handling and settlement of Unclaimed Assets has been regulated separately in an Act. In Indonesia, the handling and settlement of Unclaimed Assets has been regulated in the Civil Code (KUHPerd), including the regulation regarding Afwezigheid, namely the handling of property of someone who has left his domicile and whose existence is unknown and does not give power to any party to take care of the treasure. However, the provisions in the KUHPerd do not have economic value for related parties if applied in the Capital Market industry. One of the things that takes precedence in handling …

Potensi Sumber Pembiayaan Alternatif Dalam Pembangunan Bandar Antariksa Indonesia, Yanita Thressia

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

Indonesia targeted to have fully operational space launch in 2040 to support research and development of satellite launch technology. Biak Island has been chosen as Indonesian’s first space launch after depth research done by National Institute of Aeronautics and Space as implementing agency in space affairs. State budget allocation of LAPAN couldn’t accommodate the space launch establishment cost. Indonesian need to find alternate resource of fund rather use of state budget. Public private partnership became an option of alternative financing that growing in space industries.

Keywords: space launch, public private partnership, infrastructure financing

Peraturan Mahkamah Agung Republik Indonesia Nomor 13 Tahun 2016 Tentang Tata Cara Penanganan Perkara Tindak Pidana Oleh Korporasi; Solusi Sementara Upaya Meminta Pertanggungjawaban Pidana Korporasi, Wahyu Prestianto

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

The desire of the community so that corporations in Indonesia can be held liable today seems to have been granted with the imposition of crimes against several corporations in Indonesia. This was realized with the issuance of the Indonesian Supreme Court Regulation No. 13 of 2016 concerning Procedures for Handling Criminal Acts by Corporations that is said have filled the vacuum of Indonesian criminal procedure law, which had been said to be an inhibiting factor in corporate action by law enforcement officials. It is important to discuss what are the obstacles to the prosecution process of the corporation and whether …

Tinjauan Yuridis Terhadap Pembatalan Perjanjian Perdamaian Yang Telah Dihomologasi Karena Bertentangan Dengan Ketentuan Undang-Undang Nomor 37 Tahun 2004 Tentang Kepailitan Dan Penundaan Kewajiban Pembayaran Utang (Pkpu), Tjokorda Agung Candra Aditya

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

Composition Plan Which Has Been Homologated in the case of Suspension of Obligation For Payment is one of the efforts taken by the debtor to maintain the continuity of its business by proposing a debt payment restructuring process regulated in the composition plan. However, despite the debt composition plan that must be fulfilled by the debtor to its creditors, there are certain clauses that are intentionally included in the Compositon Plan by the debtor which have the potential to create legal loopholes if the debtor may fail to carry out payment obligations in accordance with the Compositon Plan that has …

Implementation Of Human Rights Certification As A Request For Human Rights Protection To Workers In The Fishery Industry, Tito Pramudita

"Dharmasisya” Jurnal Program Magister Hukum FHUI

The responsibility of the state is one of the important keys in the life of the state, one of which is in labor matters. In its implementation there are several records of violations of human rights in the Indonesian Sea, namely Trafficking in Persons, Forced / Slavery Labor, Child Labor, Overtime and the absence of health insurance. Research Objectives To analyze regulations in Indonesia regulating the protection of human rights for workers in the fishing industry in Indonesia and Fisheries Human Rights Certification contained in the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Regulation No. 35 of 2015 has effectively provided …